Contents

The land on which Carlton House Terrace was built had once been part of the grounds of St James's Palace, known as "the Royal Garden" and "the Wilderness". The latter was at one time in the possession of Prince Rupert of the Rhine (cousin of Charles II), and was later called Upper Spring Garden.[1]

From 1700 the land was held by Henry Boyle, who spent £2,835 on improving the existing house in the Royal Garden.[2]Queen Anne issued letters patent granting Boyle a lease for a term of 31 years from 2 November 1709 at £35 per annum.[2] Boyle was created Baron Carleton in 1714, and the property has been called after him since then, although at some point the "e" was dropped.[n 1]

On Carleton's death the lease passed to his nephew, the architect and aesthete Lord Burlington, and in January 1731 George II issued letters patent granting Burlington a reversionary lease for a further term of 40 years at an annual rent of £35.[1] By an indenture dated 23 February 1732 the lease was assigned to Frederick, Prince of Wales, eldest son of George II, who predeceased his father, dying in 1751; his widow, Augusta, continued living in the house, making alterations and purchasing an adjoining property to enlarge the site. She died in 1772 and the house devolved to her son, George III.[2]

The property was granted by George III to his eldest son, George, Prince of Wales (later Prince Regent) on the latter's coming of age in 1783. The Prince spent enormous sums on improving and enlarging the property, running up huge debts. He was at loggerheads with his father, and the house became a rival Court, and was the scene of a brilliant social life.[2]

When the Prince became King George IV in 1820 he moved to Buckingham Palace. Instructions were given in 1826 to the Commissioners of Woods and Forests that "Carlton Palace" should be given up to the public, be demolished and the site and gardens laid out as building ground for "dwelling houses of the First Class".[3] By 1829 the Commissioners reported that the site was completely cleared and that part of it had already been let on building leases.[4] Materials from the demolition were sold by public auction, with some fixtures transferred to Windsor Castle and to "The King's House, Pimlico". Columns of the portico were re-used in the design for the new National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, interior Ionic columns were moved to the conservatories of Buckingham Palace, and some of the armorial stained glass was incorporated in windows of Windsor Castle.[4]

After Carlton House was demolished the development of its former site was originally intended to be part of a scheme for improving St James's Park. For this John Nash proposed three terraces of houses along the north of the Park, balanced by three along the south side, overlooking Birdcage Walk. None of the three southern terraces and only two of the three northern ones were built, the latter being the west (nos 1–9) and east (nos 10–18) sections of Carlton House Terrace.[n 2] These two blocks were designed by Nash, with James Pennethorne in charge of the construction. Nash planned to link the two blocks with a large domed fountain between them (re-using the old columns of the Carlton House portico), but the idea was vetoed by the King;[6] the present-day Duke of York's Steps took the place of the fountain. In 1834 the Duke of York's Column was erected at the top of the steps. It consists of a granite column designed by Benjamin Wyatt topped with a bronze statue by Richard Westmacott of Frederick, Duke of York.[7]

The terrace seen from the south, with the squat Doric columns at ground level and the Corinthian columns and pediment above

The terraces, which are four storeys in height above a basement, were designed in a classical style, stucco clad, with a Corinthian columned façade overlooking St James's Park, surmounted by an elaborate frieze and pediment. At the south side, facing the park, the lower frontage has a series of squat Doric columns, supporting a substantial podium terrace at a level between the street entrances to the north and the ground floor level of the modern Mall.[6] The houses are unusual among expensive London terraces in having no mews to the rear. The reason for this was that Nash wanted the houses to make the best possible use of the view of the park, and also to present an attractive façade to the park. The service accommodation was placed underneath the podium and in two storeys of basements (rather than the usual one storey).[8]

The central pediments are a somewhat too contrived means of preventing an apparent sag in a very long façade and the attics on the end pavilions may be over-emphatic. Subtlety of modelling there is none. In fact, Carlton House Terrace is thoroughly typical of the extraordinary old man who designed it, but whose only contribution to the work was probably the provision of a few small sketches, done either in the glorious painted gallery of his Regent Street mansion or the flower-scented luxury of his castle in the Isle of Wight.[6]

The houses … form a double group each side of the Duke of York's Column. Designed as an architectural entity, facing the Park, they represent with their range of detached Corinthian columns, a pleasing example of comprehensive street architecture; an effect greatly enhanced by the freshness of their façades … The end house to each block is carried up above the roof of the main façade, thereby effecting a successful pavilion treatment. The return fronts of the houses facing the steps are also effectively treated in a complementary manner.[8]

Although Nash delegated the supervision of building to Pennethorne, he kept the letting of the sites firmly in his own hands. Ground rents, payable to the Crown, were set at the high rate of 4 guineas per foot frontage. Nash himself took leases of five sites – nos 11–15 intending to let them on the open market at a substantial profit. In the event he could not cover his total costs and made a small loss on the transactions.[6]

In the 20th century the Terrace came under threat of partial or complete demolition and redevelopment, as were country houses at that time. By the 1930s there was little demand for large central London houses, and the Commissioners of Crown Lands were having difficulty in letting the properties. Two properties were let to clubs: no 1 to the Savage Club and no 16 to Crockford's gambling club, but residential tenants became hard to find.[6] Proposals for redevelopment were put forward by the architect Sir Reginald Blomfield, who had earlier been one of those responsible for replacing Nash's Regent Street buildings with larger structures in the Edwardian neo-classical style. Blomfield proposed rebuilding "in a manner suitable for hotels, large company offices, flats and similar purposes".[9] The suggested new buildings were to be two storeys higher than Nash's houses, and there was an outcry that persuaded the Commissioners not to proceed with the scheme.[10]

The Terrace was severely damaged by German bombing during the Second World War. In the 1950s the British government considered acquiring the Terrace as the site for a new Foreign Office headquarters. The Nash façades were to be preserved, but it was widely felt that the height of the redevelopment behind them would be unacceptable.[11]

Joachim von Ribbentrop (German Ambassador): at Numbers 8 and 9 from 1936–38.[13] (The Prussian Legates, and later their successors the German Ambassadors, inhabited no 9 from 1849 until the Second World War, eventually taking no 8 also.)

Ashraf Marwan (Egyptian billionaire arms dealer and former spy): Died after somehow falling from his flat in the terrace. [14]

MI6's Section Y was housed in Number 3, Carlton Gardens (see below) after the Second World War for an undisclosed time. This department, headed by Col. Tom Grimson, analysed wiretap information and compared it with information from other sources. The British traitor George Blake was his deputy, and was brought here for interrogation after his capture in 1961.[15]

The West Terrace. Numbers 8 and 9, formerly the German Embassy and now the home of the Royal Society, are the tall houses at the near end of the terrace.

Most of the houses are now occupied by businesses, institutes and learned societies.

The Crown Estate had its headquarters in four houses in the Terrace for many years (nos 13–16), but in 2006 the organisation moved to other property it owns in New Burlington Place, an alleyway off Regent Street. In 2006 the Hinduja family purchased the vacated property for £58 million.[18]

^Nash's plans included the demolition of Marlborough House to the west, replacing it with the third terrace; this idea was reflected in some contemporary maps, including Christopher and John Greenwood's large scale London map of 1830,[5] but this proposal was not implemented.

1.
St James's
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St Jamess is a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End. In the 17th century the area developed as a location for the British aristocracy. Anciently part of the parish of St Martin in the Fields, since the Second World War the area has transitioned from residential to commercial use. The St James name is derived from the dedication of a 12th-century leper hospital to Saint James the Less, the hospital site is now occupied by St Jamess Palace. The area became known as Clubland because of the presence of gentlemens clubs. Until the Second World War, St Jamess remained one of the most exclusive residential enclaves in London, notable residences include St Jamess Palace, Clarence House, Marlborough House, Lancaster House, Spencer House, Schomberg House, Norfolk House and Bridgewater House. St Jamess was in the ancient parish of St Martin in the Fields in the Liberty of Westminster, attempts made in 1664,1668 and 1670 to separate St Jamess from the parish were resisted by St Martins vestry. The building of St Jamess Church, Piccadilly in 1684 forced the issue, the parish stretched from Oxford Street in the north to Pall Mall in the south. It roughly corresponded to the contemporary St Jamess area, but extended into parts of Soho, land south of Pall Mall remained in St Martin in the Fields parish and St Jamess Park was split between the parishes of St Martin and St Margaret. St Jamess Palace was an area and not part of any parish. A select vestry was created for the new parish, for elections to Westminster City Council, the area is part of the St Jamess ward. The ward includes Covent Garden, Strand, Westminster and part of Mayfair, St Jamess is bounded to the north by Piccadilly, to the west by Green Park, to the south by The Mall and St. Jamess Park and to the east by Haymarket. Notable streets include, St Jamess Square, which many of its original houses but is mostly in office use. The London Library is located there, Jermyn Street, an upmarket retail street best known for bespoke shirtmakers and shops offering the finest gentlemens attire. Pall Mall, which many of Londons gentlemens clubs. Haymarket was once the best known centre of prostitution in London and it contains two historic theatres, the Haymarket Theatre and Her Majestys Theatre. Carlton House Terrace, a pair of terraces of houses designed by John Nash overlooking St. Jamess Park. St Jamess Street which runs down from Piccadilly to St Jamess Palace, St Jamess is a predominantly commercial area with some of the highest rents in London and, consequently, the world

2.
Stucco
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Stucco or render is a material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a dense solid. It is used as coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural. Stucco may be used to cover less visually appealing construction materials such as metal, concrete, cinder block, or clay brick and adobe. In English, stucco usually means a coating for the outside of a building, and plaster one for interiors, as described below, but other European languages, importantly including Italian, do not have the same distinction, stucco means plaster in Italian and serves for both. This has led to English often using stucco for interior decorative plasterwork in relief, especially in art history, the difference in nomenclature between stucco, plaster, and mortar is based more on use than composition. Animal or plant fibers were often added for additional strength, in the latter nineteenth century, Portland cement was added with increasing frequency in an attempt to improve the durability of stucco. At the same time, traditional lime plasters were being replaced by gypsum plaster, traditional stucco is made of lime, sand, and water. Modern stucco is made of Portland cement, sand, and water, lime is added to increase the permeability and workability of modern stucco. Sometimes additives such as acrylics and glass fibers are added to improve the properties of the stucco. This is usually done with what is considered a one-coat stucco system, lime stucco is a relatively hard material that can be broken or chipped by hand without too much difficulty. The lime itself is white, color comes from the aggregate or any added pigments. Lime stucco has the property of being self-healing to a degree because of the slight water solubility of lime. Portland cement stucco is very hard and brittle and can easily crack if the base on which it is applied is not stable, typically its color was gray, from the innate color of most Portland cement, but white Portland cement is also used. Todays stucco manufacturers offer a wide range of colors that can be mixed integrally in the finish coat. As a building material, stucco is a durable, attractive and it was traditionally used as both an interior and exterior finish applied in one or two thin layers directly over a solid masonry, brick or stone surface. The finish coat usually contained a color and was typically textured for appearance. The lath added support for the wet plaster and tensile strength to the brittle, cured stucco, while the increased thickness, the traditional application of stucco and lath occurs in three coats — the scratch coat, the brown coat and the finish coat

3.
St James's Park
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St Jamess Park is a 23-hectare park in the City of Westminster, central London. The park lies at the southernmost tip of the St Jamess area, the park is the most easterly of a near-continuous chain of parks that comprises Green Park, Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens. The park is bounded by Buckingham Palace to the west, the Mall to the north, Horse Guards to the east and it meets Green Park at Queens Gardens with the Victoria Memorial at its centre, opposite the entrance to Buckingham Palace. St Jamess Palace is on the side of The Mall. The closest London Underground stations are St Jamess Park, Green Park, Victoria, the park has a small lake, St Jamess Park Lake, with two islands, West Island, and Duck Island, named for the lakes collection of waterfowl. A resident colony of pelicans has been a feature of the park since pelicans were donated by a Russian ambassador in 1664 to Charles II. While most of the time the wings are clipped, there is a pelican who can be flying to the London Zoo in hopes of another meal. The Blue Bridge across the lake affords a view west towards Buckingham Palace framed by trees. Looking east the view includes the Swire Fountain to the north of Duck Island and, past the lake, the grounds of Horse Guards Parade, with Horse Guards, the Old War Office and Whitehall Court behind. To the south of Duck Island is the Tiffany Fountain on Pelican Rock, and past the lake is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, with the London Eye, the Shell Tower, and the Shard behind. In 1532, Henry VIII bought an area of marshland through which the Tyburn flowed from Eton College. It lies to the west of York Place acquired by Henry from Cardinal Wolsey, it was purchased in order to turn York Palace, subsequently renamed Whitehall, a 775 metre by 38 metre canal was created as evidenced in the old plan. The king opened the park to the public and used the area to entertain guests and mistresses, such as Nell Gwyn. The park became notorious at the time as a place for impromptu acts of lechery, as described by John Wilmot. In the late-17th and early-18th centuries cows grazed on the park, at the same time, Buckingham House was expanded to create the palace, and Marble Arch was built at its entrance, whilst The Mall was turned into a grand processional route. It opened to public traffic 60 years later in 1887, the Marble Arch was moved to its current location at the junction of Oxford Street and Park Lane in 1851 and the Victoria Memorial was erected between 1906 and 1924. Media related to St Jamess Park at Wikimedia Commons Visitor information at the Royal Parks website

4.
John Nash (architect)
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John Nash was a British architect responsible for much of the layout of Regency London under the patronage of the Prince Regent, and during his reign as George IV. Nash was also a pioneer in the use of the Picturesque in architecture and his best-known buildings are the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, and Buckingham Palace. Many of his buildings were built by the property developer James Burton, in return, Nash promoted the career of Burtons son, Decimus Burton, who assisted him with several of his designs and later became a famous architect in his own right. Nash was born during 1752 in Lambeth, south London, the son of a Welsh millwright also called John, from 1766 or 67, John Nash trained with the architect Sir Robert Taylor, the apprenticeship was completed in 1775 or 1776. On 28 April 1775, at the now demolished church of St Mary Newington, Nash married his first wife Jane Elizabeth Kerr, initially he seems to have pursued a career as a surveyor, builder and carpenter. This gave him an income of around £300 a year, the couple set up home at Royal Row Lambeth. He established his own practice in 1777 as well as being in partnership with a timber merchant. The couple had two children, both were baptised at St Mary-at-Lambeth, John on 9 June 1776 and Hugh on 28 April 1778. The claim that Jane had faked her pregnancies and then passed babies she had acquired off as her own was brought before the Consistory court of the Bishop of London. His wife was sent to Aberavon to lodge with Nashs cousin Ann Morgan, in an attempt at reconciliation Jane returned to London in June 1779, but she continued to act extravagantly so he sent her to another cousin, Thomas Edwards of Neath. She gave birth just after Christmas, and acknowledged Charles Charles as the father, in 1781 Nash instigated action against Jane for separation on grounds of adultery. The case was tried at Hereford in 1782, Charles who was guilty was unable to pay the damages of £76. The divorce was finally read 26 January 1787 and his career was initially unsuccessful and short-lived. After inheriting £1000 in 1778 from his uncle Thomas, he invested the money in building his first known independent works, 15–17 Bloomsbury Square, but the property failed to let and he was declared bankrupt on 30 September 1783. His debts were £5000, including £2000 he had been lent by Robert Adam, a blue plaque commemorating Nash was placed on 66 Great Russell Street by English Heritage in 2013. Nash left London in 1784 to live in Carmarthen, to where his mother had retired, in 1785 he and a local man Samuel Simon Saxon re-roofed the towns church for 600 Guineas. Nash and Saxon seem to have worked as building contractors and suppliers of building materials, Nashs London buildings had been standard Georgian terrace houses, and it was in Wales that he matured as an architect. He went on to design the prisons at Cardigan and Hereford and it was at Hereford that Nash met Richard Payne Knight, whose theories on the picturesque as applies to architecture and landscape would influence Nash

5.
Townhouse (Great Britain)
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The grandest of the London townhouses were stand-alone buildings, but many were terraced buildings. The aristocratic pedigree of terraced housing, for example as survives in St Jamess Square in Westminster, is widely forgotten, the term is comparable to the hôtel particulier which housed the French nobleman in Paris. Many of the Inns of Court in London served this function, for example Grays Inn was the London townhouse of Reginald de Grey, from the 18th century, landowners and their servants would move to a townhouse during the social season. From the 18th century most townhouses were terraced, it was one of the successes of Georgian architecture to persuade the rich to buy terraced houses, especially if they were in a garden square. Only a small minority of them, generally the largest, were detached, for example, the Duke of Norfolk owned Arundel Castle in the country, while from 1722 his London house, Norfolk House, was a terraced house in St Jamess Square over 100 feet wide. They gradually spread onto the Strand, the main thoroughfare from the City to the Palace of Westminster. Bishops also had London residences, generally termed Palaces, for example Lambeth Palace, Ely Palace, many aristocratic townhouses were demolished or ceased to be used for residential purposes after the First World War. The greatest residence on the Strand was the Savoy Palace, residence of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the Strand had the advantage of river frontage to the Thames, which gave the nobles their own private landing places. The next fashion was to still further westwards to St Jamess. In the 18th century Covent Garden was developed by the Duke of Bedford on his Bedford Estate, the final fashion before the modern era was for a residence on the former marsh-land of Belgravia, developed after the establishment of Mayfair also by the Duke of Westminster. The subsequent townhouse of the Berkeleys was on the site of Berkeley Square, the present Hertford House in Manchester Square, home of the Wallace Collection, was built by one of his very distant cousins. Hungerford House, residence of Baron Hungerford until 1669, powerscourt House - Dublin residence of Viscount Powersourt, a prominent Irish peer. It was sensitively converted into a shopping centre in the 1980s. Georgian Dublin consisted of five Georgian squares, which contained the townhouses of prominent peers, the squares were Merrion Square, St Stephens Green, Fitzwilliam Square, Ruthland Square and Mountjoy Square. Many of the townhouses in these squares are now offices while some have been demolished, english country house Great house Manor house Stately home List of house types Hôtel particulier Cunningham, Peter. Handbook of London Past and Present, London,1850, londons Mansions by David Pearce, ISBN 0-7134-8702-X The London Rich by Peter Thorold ISBN 0-670-87480-9 Daisy, Countess of Fingall. Ros, Maggi, Life in Elizabethan England, A London and Westminster Directory,2008

6.
Carlton House
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Carlton House was a mansion in London, best known as the town residence of the Prince Regent for several decades from 1783. It faced the side of Pall Mall, and its gardens abutted St. Jamess Park in the St Jamess district of London. An existing house was rebuilt at the beginning of the century for Henry Boyle, created Baron Carleton in 1714, who bequeathed it to his nephew. Burlingtons mother sold it in 1732 to Frederick, Prince of Wales, the Prince had the house substantially rebuilt by the architect Henry Holland between 1783 and 1796. By the time the Prince Regent and Henry Holland parted company in 1802, Carlton House was a spacious and opulent residence, from the 1780s it was the centre of a glittering alternate court to that of the Princes parents at St James and Buckingham House. After 1811 when he became Prince Regent the house was altered and redecorated to suit an even amount of usage as a palace in all. In 1820, on the death of his father, George III and he deemed that Carlton House, the official royal residence of St. Jamess Palace and his parents Buckingham House were all inadequate for his needs. Some consideration was given to rebuilding Carlton House on a far larger scale, Carlton House was demolished in 1825 and replaced with two grand white stuccoed terraces of expensive houses known as Carlton House Terrace. The proceeds of the leases were put towards the cost of Buckingham Palace, when the Prince of Wales took possession in August 1783, Sir William Chambers was appointed as architect, but after a first survey, he was quickly replaced by Henry Holland. Both Chambers and Holland were proponents of the French neoclassical style of architecture, Holland began working first on the State Apartments along the garden front, the principal reception rooms of the house. There is an August simplicity that astonished me and you cannot call it magnificent, it is the taste and propriety that strike. Parliament appointed a commission to investigate the huge cost overruns at Carlton House, in May 1787, the Prince of Wales contritely approached his father, King George III, and persuaded him to provide the money to finish the house. When work resumed in the summer of 1787, with a budget of £60,000 to finish the house, it was with the assistance of many of the furniture makers. When completed, Carlton House was approximately 202 feet long, and 130 feet deep, visitors entered the house through a hexastyle portico of Corinthian columns that led to a foyer that was flanked on either side by anterooms. Carlton House was unusual in that the visitor entered the house on the main floor, from the foyer, the visitor entered the two story top lit entrance hall that was decorated with Ionic columns of yellow marble scagliola. Beyond the hall was a room that was also top lit. The octagonal room was flanked on the right by the staircase and flanked on the left by a courtyard. This suite of rooms was equipped with folding doors which provided an impressive enfilade when opened, besides the magnificent French decor and furniture, Carlton House was hung with a superb collection of works of art

7.
St James's Palace
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St Jamess Palace is the most senior royal palace in the United Kingdom. Built by King Henry VIII on the site of a hospital dedicated to Saint James the Less. The palace increased in importance during the reigns of the early Georgian monarchy, after decades of being used increasingly for only formal occasions, the move was formalised by Queen Victoria in 1837. Today the palace houses a number of offices, societies and collections and all ambassadors. Mainly built between 1531 and 1536 in red-brick, the architecture is primarily Tudor in style. A fire in 1809 destroyed parts of the structure, including the private apartments. Some 17th-century interiors survive, but most were remodelled in the 19th century, the palace was commissioned by Henry VIII, on the site of a former leper hospital dedicated to Saint James the Less. The new palace, secondary in the kings interest to Henrys Whitehall Palace, was constructed between 1531 and 1536 as a residence to escape formal court life. Much smaller than the nearby Whitehall, St Jamess was arranged around a number of courtyards, including the Colour Court, the Ambassadors Court and it is decorated with the initials H. A. for Henry and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Henry constructed the palace in red brick, with picked out in darker brick. The palace was remodelled in 1544, with ceilings painted by Hans Holbein, two of Henry VIIIs children died at Saint Jamess, Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset and Mary I. Elizabeth I often resided at the palace, and is said to have spent the night there while waiting for the Spanish Armada to sail up the Channel, in 1638, Charles I gave the palace to Marie de Medici, the mother of his wife Henrietta Maria. Marie remained in the palace for three years, but the residence of a Catholic former queen of France proved unpopular with parliament, Charles I spent his final night at St Jamess before his execution. Oliver Cromwell then took it over, and turned it into barracks during the English Commonwealth period, Charles II, James II, Mary II and Anne were all born at the palace. The palace was restored by Charles II following the demise of the Commonwealth, the first two monarchs of the House of Hanover used St Jamess Palace as their principal London residence. George I and George II both housed their mistresses, the Duchess of Kendal and the Countess of Suffolk respectively, at the palace. In 1757, George II donated the Palace library to the British Museum, in 1809, a fire destroyed part of the palace, including the monarchs private apartments at the south east corner. These apartments were not replaced, leaving the Queens Chapel in isolation, George III found St Jamess increasingly unsuitable

8.
Prince Rupert of the Rhine
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Rupert was a younger son of the German prince Frederick V, Elector Palatine and his wife Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of James I of England. Thus Rupert was the nephew of King Charles I of England, who made him Duke of Cumberland and Earl of Holderness, and his sister Electress Sophia was the mother of George I of Great Britain. Prince Rupert had a varied career and he was a soldier from a young age, fighting against Spain in the Netherlands during the Eighty Years War, and against the Holy Roman Emperor in Germany during the Thirty Years War. Aged 23, he was appointed commander of the Royalist cavalry during the English Civil War, becoming the archetypal Cavalier of the war and he surrendered after the fall of Bristol and was banished from England. He served under Louis XIV of France against Spain, and then as a Royalist privateer in the Caribbean, Rupert died in England in 1682, aged 62. Rupert is considered to have been a quick-thinking and energetic cavalry general, in the Interregnum, Rupert continued the conflict against Parliament by sea from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean, showing considerable persistence in the face of adversity. As the head of the Royal Navy in his years, he showed greater maturity and made impressive and long-lasting contributions to the Royal Navys doctrine. As a colonial governor, Rupert shaped the geography of modern Canada—Ruperts Land was named in his honour. He also played a role in the early African slave trade, Ruperts varied and numerous scientific and administrative interests combined with his considerable artistic skills made him one of the more colourful individuals of the Restoration period. Rupert was born in Prague in 1619, at the start of the Thirty Years War, to Frederick V, Elector Palatine, and Elizabeth Stuart and he was given his name in honour of King Rupert of Germany, a famous Wittelsbach ancestor. Ruperts father was a member of the Holy Roman Empire. This support was not forthcoming, resulting in a defeat at the hands of his Catholic enemies at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620. Ruperts parents were mockingly termed the Winter King and Queen as a consequence of their reigns in Bohemia having lasted only a single season. Rupert was almost left behind in the rush to escape Ferdinands advance on Prague, until Kryštof z Donína. Rupert accompanied his parents to The Hague, where he spent his years at the Hof te Wassenaer. Ruperts mother paid her children little attention even by the standards of the day, apparently preferring her pet monkeys, the result was a strict school routine including logic, mathematics, writing, drawing, singing and playing instruments. As a child, Rupert was at times badly behaved, fiery, mischievous, nonetheless, Rupert proved to be an able student. By the age of three he could speak some English, Czech and French, and mastered German while still young and he excelled in art, being taught by Gerard van Honthorst, and found the maths and sciences easy

9.
Charles II of England
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Charles II was king of England, Scotland and Ireland. He was king of Scotland from 1649 until his deposition in 1651, Charles IIs father, Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, Cromwell became virtual dictator of England, Scotland and Ireland, and Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands. A political crisis followed the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy. On 29 May 1660, his 30th birthday, he was received in London to public acclaim, after 1660, all legal documents were dated as if he had succeeded his father as king in 1649. Charless English parliament enacted laws known as the Clarendon Code, designed to shore up the position of the re-established Church of England, Charles acquiesced to the Clarendon Code even though he favoured a policy of religious tolerance. The major foreign policy issue of his reign was the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In 1670, he entered into the treaty of Dover. Louis agreed to aid him in the Third Anglo-Dutch War and pay him a pension, Charles attempted to introduce religious freedom for Catholics and Protestant dissenters with his 1672 Royal Declaration of Indulgence, but the English Parliament forced him to withdraw it. In 1679, Titus Oatess revelations of a supposed Popish Plot sparked the Exclusion Crisis when it was revealed that Charless brother, the crisis saw the birth of the pro-exclusion Whig and anti-exclusion Tory parties. Charles sided with the Tories, and, following the discovery of the Rye House Plot to murder Charles and James in 1683, Charles dissolved the English Parliament in 1681, and ruled alone until his death on 6 February 1685. He was received into the Roman Catholic Church on his deathbed, Charless wife, Catherine of Braganza, bore no live children, but Charles acknowledged at least twelve illegitimate children by various mistresses. He was succeeded by his brother James, Charles II was born in St Jamess Palace on 29 May 1630. His parents were Charles I and Henrietta Maria, Charles was their second son and child. Their first son was born about a year before Charles but died within a day, England, Scotland and Ireland were respectively predominantly Anglican, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic. At birth, Charles automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay, at or around his eighth birthday, he was designated Prince of Wales, though he was never formally invested. During the 1640s, when Charles was still young, his father fought Parliamentary, by spring 1646, his father was losing the war, and Charles left England due to fears for his safety. Charles I surrendered into captivity in May 1646, at The Hague, Charles had a brief affair with Lucy Walter, who later falsely claimed that they had secretly married

10.
Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington
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Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington and 4th Earl of Cork, KG PC, born in Yorkshire, England, was the son of the 2nd Earl of Burlington and 3rd Earl of Cork and Juliana Noel. He is remembered for bringing Palladian architecture to Britain and Ireland and his major projects include Burlington House, Westminster School, Chiswick House and Northwick Park. Lord Burlington was born in Yorkshire into a wealthy Anglo-Irish aristocratic family, often known as the architect Earl, he was instrumental in the revival of Palladian architecture in both Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland. He succeeded to his titles and extensive estates in Yorkshire and Ireland at the age of nine, during his minority, which lasted until 1715, his English and Irish lands and political interests were managed on his behalf by his mother and guardian, the dowager countess Juliana. He showed a love of music. Georg Frideric Handel dedicated two operas to him, while staying at Burlington House, Teseo and Amadigi di Gaula, three foreign Grand Tours 1714 –1719 and a further trip to Paris in 1726 gave him opportunities to develop his taste. His professional skill as an architect was extraordinary in an English aristocrat and he carried his copy of Andrea Palladios book I quattro libri dellarchitettura with him in touring the Veneto in 1719, and made notes on a small number of blank pages. In 1719 he was one of main subscribers in the Royal Academy of Music, Burlington never closely inspected Roman ruins or made detailed drawings on the sites, he relied on Palladio and Scamozzi as his interpreters of the classic tradition. With Some Additional Designs that were by Kent and Burlington, the important role of Jones pupil Webb in transmitting the palladian—neo-palladian heritage was not understood until the 20th century. Burlingtons Palladio drawings include many reconstructions after Vitruvius of Roman buildings, in the meantime, in 1723 he adapted the palazzo facade in the illustration for the London house of General Wade in Old Burlington Street, which was engraved for Vitruvius Britannicus iii. The process put a previously unknown Palladio design into circulation, the courtyard front of Burlington House, prominently sited in Piccadilly, was the first major executed statement of neo-Palladianism. By the early 1730s Palladian style had triumphed as the accepted manner for a British country house or public building. For the rest of his life Burlington was the Apollo of the arts as Horace Walpole phrased it—, in 1739, Lord Burlington was involved in the founding of a new charitable organisation called the Foundling Hospital. Burlington was a governor of the charity, but did not formally take part in planning the construction of this large Bloomsbury childrens home completed in 1742, architect for the building was a Theodore Jacobsen, who took on the commission as an act of charity. Many of Burlingtons projects have suffered, from rebuilding or additions, from fire, brettinghams engraved publication of Holkham credited Burlington specifically with ceilings for the portico and the north dressing-room. Burlingtons architectural drawings, inherited by his son-in-law the Duke of Devonshire, are preserved at Chatsworth, in 1751 he sent some of his drawings to Francesco Algarotti in Potsdam together with a book on Vitruvius. In the original house, the corner pavilion blocks of Inigo Jones Wilton were provided with the Palladian window motif to be seen at Burlington House. Old Burlington Street, London, houses, including one for General Wade,1723, General Wades house adapted the genuine Palladio facade in Burlingtons collection of drawings

11.
George IV of the United Kingdom
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George IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover following the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten years later. From 1811 until his accession, he served as Prince Regent during his fathers mental illness. George IV led an extravagant lifestyle that contributed to the fashions of the Regency era and he was a patron of new forms of leisure, style and taste. He commissioned John Nash to build the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and remodel Buckingham Palace and he even forbade Caroline to attend his coronation and asked the government to introduce the unpopular Pains and Penalties Bill in a desperate, unsuccessful attempt to divorce her. For most of Georges regency and reign, Lord Liverpool controlled the government as Prime Minister and his ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible. At all times he was much under the influence of favourites, taxpayers were angry at his wasteful spending at a time when Britons were fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. He did not provide leadership in time of crisis, nor act as a role model for his people. Liverpools government presided over Britains ultimate victory, negotiated the peace settlement, after Liverpools retirement, George was forced to accept Catholic emancipation despite opposing it. His only child, Princess Charlotte, died before him in 1817 and so he was succeeded by his younger brother, George was born at St Jamess Palace, London, on 12 August 1762, the first child of King George III of the United Kingdom and Queen Charlotte. As the eldest son of a British sovereign, he automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay at birth, he was created Prince of Wales, on 18 September of the same year, he was baptised by Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury. His godparents were the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the Duke of Cumberland, George was a talented student, and quickly learned to speak French, German and Italian, in addition to his native English. He was a witty conversationalist, drunk or sober, and showed good, the Prince of Wales turned 21 in 1783, and obtained a grant of £60,000 from Parliament and an annual income of £50,000 from his father. It was far too little for his needs – the stables alone cost £31,000 a year and he then established his residence in Carlton House, where he lived a profligate life. Animosity developed between the prince and his father, who desired more frugal behaviour on the part of the heir apparent, the King, a political conservative, was also alienated by the princes adherence to Charles James Fox and other radically inclined politicians. Soon after he reached the age of 21, the prince became infatuated with Maria Fitzherbert and she was a commoner, six years his elder, twice widowed, and a Roman Catholic. Despite her complete unsuitability, the prince was determined to marry her, nevertheless, the couple went through a marriage ceremony on 15 December 1785 at her house in Park Street, Mayfair. Legally the union was void, as the Kings consent was not granted, however, Fitzherbert believed that she was the princes canonical and true wife, holding the law of the Church to be superior to the law of the State. For political reasons, the union remained secret and Fitzherbert promised not to reveal it, the prince was plunged into debt by his exorbitant lifestyle

12.
Anne, Queen of Great Britain
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Anne became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union, two of her realms, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, united as a sovereign state known as Great Britain. She continued to reign as Queen of Great Britain and Ireland until her death, Anne was born in the reign of her uncle Charles II, who had no legitimate children. Her father, James, was first in line to the throne and his suspected Roman Catholicism was unpopular in England, and on Charless instructions Anne was raised as an Anglican. Three years after he succeeded Charles, James was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Annes Dutch Protestant brother-in-law and cousin William III became joint monarch with his wife, Annes elder sister Mary II. Although the sisters had been close, disagreements over Annes finances, status and choice of acquaintances arose shortly after Marys accession, William and Mary had no children. After Marys death in 1694, William continued as sole monarch until he was succeeded by Anne upon his death in 1702, as queen, Anne favoured moderate Tory politicians, who were more likely to share her Anglican religious views than their opponents, the Whigs. The Whigs grew more powerful during the course of the War of the Spanish Succession and her close friendship with Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, turned sour as the result of political differences. Anne was plagued by ill health throughout her life, from her thirties onwards, she grew increasingly lame and obese. Despite seventeen pregnancies by her husband, Prince George of Denmark, she died without any surviving children and was the last monarch of the House of Stuart. Anne was born at 11,39 p. m. on 6 February 1665 at St Jamess Palace, London, the child and second daughter of James, Duke of York. At her Anglican baptism in the Chapel Royal at St Jamess, her sister, Mary, was one of her godparents, along with the Duchess of Monmouth. The Duke and Duchess of York had eight children, but Anne, as a child, Anne suffered from an eye condition, which manifested as excessive watering known as defluxion. For medical treatment, she was sent to France, where she lived with her grandmother, Queen Henrietta Maria. Following her grandmothers death in 1669, Anne lived with an aunt, Henrietta Anne, on the sudden death of her aunt in 1670, Anne returned to England. Her mother died the following year, as was traditional in the royal family, Anne and her sister were brought up separated from their father in their own establishment at Richmond, London. On the instructions of Charles II, they were raised as Protestants, placed in the care of Colonel Edward and Lady Frances Villiers, their education was focused on the teachings of the Anglican church. Henry Compton, Bishop of London, was appointed as Annes preceptor, around 1671, Anne first made the acquaintance of Sarah Jennings, who later became her close friend and one of her most influential advisors

A Royal Giltwood Frame of Colossal Scale by Paul Petit made at the command of Frederick, Prince of Wales to contain a portrait of Frederick the Great by Antoine Pesne (1683–1757). Collection of Carlton Hobbs LLC.